She taught English in Puerto Rico, and was on the faculty of Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. Queen graduated from M Street High School in Washington, D.C. in 1904,[1][2] then attended Cornell University, graduating in the class of 1908.

[10] In 1915, she supervised the summer school at the State College for Colored Students in Dover, Delaware.

[12][13] During World War I, she chaired the American Red Cross auxiliary at Howard University; she held sewing events[14] and organized student entertainment for black soldiers stationed at Fort Meade.

[15] Queen was a relief worker in the aftermath of the East St. Louis riots in 1917,[6] and testified about what she saw there, at a Congressional hearing.

[20] In 1928 she attended the American Council Institute of Pacific Relations meeting in New York City.